Thursday, May 2, 2013

Flu papers spark row over credit for data

On 31 March, China reported the first human cases of infection with a
new H7N9 avian flu virus. The same day, a team at the Chinese National
Influenza Center (CNIC) in Beijing uploaded to a research database the
genetic sequences of viruses isolated from the first three human cases.
But Nature has learned that in the days that followed, Chinese
scientists and officials grew increasingly concerned that China might
lose credit for its work in isolating and sequencing the virus.

The sequences were placed in the Global Initiative on
Sharing All Influenza Data (GISAID) database. According to the
database’s rules, scientists who use sequences from it must credit those
who deposited the data and, where possible, propose collaborations with
them.

“Unfortunately some bad things happened when we released
the sequences in GISAID, and they really hurt us,” says Yuelong Shu,
head of the CNIC, which is also the World Health Organization (WHO)
Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza in China.
“GISAID have tried their best to help us,” he adds. “I really appreciate
what they have done.”-snip-

“One has to recognize the sensitivities in relation to scientific
priority,” says Hay, who thinks that many potential difficulties could
be avoided if people spoke to each other more about their work and their
publication plans.
“Scientific etiquette is without doubt a key to keeping
the rapid sharing of data a reality,” says Shu. In this case, he
continues, “after some initial concerns we found that both researchers
and publishers were understanding of our predicament”.
Hay hopes that the hiccups won’t discourage Chinese
researchers from making their H7N9 data publicly accessible quickly. “It
is very important to continue to share sequences from the more recent
cases,” he says.
For his part, Shu says that he is keen to ensure that researchers continue to have “unfettered access to data”.